Cross Party Condemnation of Joe Biden, by UK Parliament, as He is Held in Contempt.

[GO-NAD!]

If OUR people were there, it's highly unlikely that the US military would send them with old materiel.

The question is not "What gear did US forces bring with them?", it's "What gear was given to the Afghans?". Because, I doubt they would have been given the latest and greatest.

 

[highfigh]

The question is not "What gear did US forces bring with them?", it's "What gear was given to the Afghans?". Because, I doubt they would have been given the latest and greatest.

While we were there in full force, they wouldn't get the latest and greatest, but we always leave our toys at the other kid's house when we rush off, so they now have all kinds of dangerous equipment to learn by trial and error, or by reading the manuals that are sure to be with a lot of it because it tends to be more complex than anyone is likely to know to the extent that a 'Quick Setup Guide' won't be sufficient.

People see the Taliban as ignorant peasants but I assure you, they have engineers and others who are technically savvy- remember Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, former President of Iran? From the link, "He was enrolled as an undergraduate student of civil engineering in the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), located at Tehran. He would later earn his doctorate in 1997 in transportation engineering and planning from Iran University of Science and Technology.". They have smart people, too.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[GO-NAD!]

While we were there in full force, they wouldn't get the latest and greatest, but we always leave our toys at the other kid's house when we rush off, so they now have all kinds of dangerous equipment to learn by trial and error, or by reading the manuals that are sure to be with a lot of it because it tends to be more complex than anyone is likely to know to the extent that a 'Quick Setup Guide' won't be sufficient.

People see the Taliban as ignorant peasants but I assure you, they have engineers and others who are technically savvy- remember Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, former President of Iran? From the link, "He was enrolled as an undergraduate student of civil engineering in the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), located at Tehran. He would later earn his doctorate in 1997 in transportation engineering and planning from Iran University of Science and Technology.". They have smart people, too.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I'm certainly not saying the Taliban are stupid. I'm just skeptical that highly classified technology would be left with an organization with mixed loyalties and motivations. I know I would be hesitant to give them the "best" kit. If there's anything about a UH-60 that the Russians don't already know, it's probably because they aren't interested. I guess we'll see...

 

[Jeepers]

People see the Taliban as ignorant peasants but I assure you, they have engineers and others who are technically savvy- remember Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, former President of Iran? From the link, "He was enrolled as an undergraduate student of civil engineering in the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), located at Tehran. He would later earn his doctorate in 1997 in transportation engineering and planning from Iran University of Science and Technology.". They have smart people, too.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I am not defending the former Iranian President but in what way is he linked to the Taliban ?

 

[Mikado463]

a sad display of our tax dollars wasted ...........

Rifles, Humvees and ammo: Taliban celebrate their new American arsenal

US national security officials are working to account for more than 20 years worth of weapons provided to the Afghan military as images of Taliban fighters brandishing American-made rifles and riding in abandoned Humvees are raising concerns about what else was left behind.

www.cnn.com

 

[highfigh]

I am not defending the former Iranian President but in what way is he linked to the Taliban ?

My point is that the Taliban isn't full of cave-dwelling knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers- they surely have people who are or studied to be engineers, chemists, etc- people thought Iran was led by someone who was just hard-line (though secular) Muslim but didn't consider the extent of his knowledge and education. The link below indicates that Iran actually helped the US expel the Taliban from Afghanistan around 2001.

A New Look at Iran’s Complicated Relationship with the Taliban - War on the Rocks

Eight years ago, I took part in a meeting among people from several different countries — Iran, various European countries, Afghanistan, Turkey, and the

warontherocks.com

However, their attitude towards the US changed drastically when our forces went in after 9-11 and at this point, they wouldn't piss on us if we were on fire.

 

[highfigh]

a sad display of our tax dollars wasted ...........

Rifles, Humvees and ammo: Taliban celebrate their new American arsenal

US national security officials are working to account for more than 20 years worth of weapons provided to the Afghan military as images of Taliban fighters brandishing American-made rifles and riding in abandoned Humvees are raising concerns about what else was left behind.

www.cnn.com

I would have been OK if the weapons had been destroyed, but just leaving them in place and running away is disgraceful and shows that most of our time there was wasted. The worst part is the waste of the lives of those who died, were horribly mutilated and whose mental condition is far worse than we can imagine.

 

[highfigh]

I'm certainly not saying the Taliban are stupid. I'm just skeptical that highly classified technology would be left with an organization with mixed loyalties and motivations. I know I would be hesitant to give them the "best" kit. If there's anything about a UH-60 that the Russians don't already know, it's probably because they aren't interested. I guess we'll see...

You seem to be forgetting that the Chinese wouldn't mind having some of what the US left, assuming they hadn't already gotten all of the info through hacking and espionage.

 

[TLS Guy]

Great cartoon from the UK press.

 

[GO-NAD!]

You seem to be forgetting that the Chinese wouldn't mind having some of what the US left, assuming they hadn't already gotten all of the info through hacking and espionage.

I didn't forget the Chinese, I just didn't bother including them in my post.

What it boils down to, is that worries over sensitive technologies falling into the wrong hands are well down the list of concerns about this FUBAR situation.

I'm not saying that so many weapons falling into Taliban hands isn't unfortunate. I just don't think anything of significant technological sensitivity would have been left behind by US forces. The few aircraft left behind won't be operational for long when they can't maintain them for lack of spare parts. The Taliban had a policy of hunting down and killing any Afghan pilots they could get their hands on, so it's unlikely they will come forward and fly for the new regime.

It's not a "nothing burger", but it's closer to "Where's the beef?".

 

[highfigh]

I didn't forget the Chinese, I just didn't bother including them in my post.

What it boils down to, is that worries over sensitive technologies falling into the wrong hands are well down the list of concerns about this FUBAR situation.

I'm not saying that so many weapons falling into Taliban hands isn't unfortunate. I just don't think anything of significant technological sensitivity would have been left behind by US forces. The few aircraft left behind won't be operational for long when they can't maintain them for lack of spare parts. The Taliban had a policy of hunting down and killing any Afghan pilots they could get their hands on, so it's unlikely they will come forward and fly for the new regime.

It's not a "nothing burger", but it's closer to "Where's the beef?".

The way this CF is being handled, I wouldn't want to think they made sure everything on the punch list was done.

 

[Mikado463]

The way this CF is being handled

Can you just imagine if Trump was the one handling this mess, the libs here would be going bat sh*t.

what's just as ludicrous is the goofy extreme right feels Joe should now be impeached.......

 

[Trell]

Can you just imagine if Trump was the one handling this mess, the libs here would be going bat sh*t.

what's just as ludicrous is the goofy extreme right feels Joe should now be impeached.......

Do you see any "libs" here defending Bidens poorly planned and implemented withdrawal? No, can't find it?

 

[rnatalli]

The withdrawal could have been handled better, that goes without saying. At the same time, no president since this began wanted to touch it so give credit to Biden for actually doing what several presidents before him only spoke about, but didn't dare do because of the political fallout.

 

[Danzilla31]

The withdrawal could have been handled better, that goes without saying. At the same time, no president since this began wanted to touch it so give credit to Biden for actually doing what several presidents before him only spoke about, but didn't dare do because of the political fallout.

What's going to be interesting is the fallout from it. Swing voters tend to have very short term memories

Whoever is in charge tend to gets the blame whether it's fair or not.

And there are a lot of seats coming up for election in 2022. There is potential for the presidents party tp take a hit if people put the blame on him

But with the republican side being so idiotic about the virus and the obvious fracture between traditional conservatives and new ones its impossible to know exactly how it pans out

Not to mention the fracture between progressives and more center democrats that's a wild card too.

Politics right now is all over the damn place.

 

[highfigh]

Can you just imagine if Trump was the one handling this mess, the libs here would be going bat sh*t.

what's just as ludicrous is the goofy extreme right feels Joe should now be impeached.......

Obama wanted to leave, too- he didn't do anything.

The way it's happening, it looks like someone saying "Oh, poop- they're on to us! Run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".

US war machine- "Pissing away money and lives, our specialty".

Maybe Trump could have worn his academy uniform.

 

[Dal1as]

Sure but everybody was taken by surprise how fast the Taliban took city after city. The Afghan president leaving the country and the Afghan army not really fighting did not really help and resulted in chaos.

That is simply not true. The Taliban have been moving and violating the conditions put forth in the agreement for months and this has been reported to this administration since it started. The problem lies in the fact people like the Taliban and the Afghani people only understand strength and weakness and we have a spineless turnip in charge.

People are being severely naive and single minded in blaming Trump on this. Weakness begets violence and conflict. It always has, but for all his faults, lack of strength and resolve was not one of them. No other president in our lifetime stepped up and kept the likes of China, North Korea, Iran, and our real enemies in check like he did.

They're all laughing their asses off and licking their chops now.

Taiwan may be next. Weakness like this may easilly start WW3.

I'll stop there. I would have rathered my 1st post here be about the theater I want to build.

 

[Mikado463]

That is simply not true. The Taliban have been moving and violating the conditions put forth in the agreement for months and this has been reported to this administration since it started. The problem lies in the fact people like the Taliban and the Afghani people only understand strength and weakness and we have a spineless turnip in charge.

People are being severely naive and single minded in blaming Trump on this. Weakness begets violence and conflict. It always has, but for all his faults, lack of strength and resolve was not one of them. No other president in our lifetime stepped up and kept the likes of China, North Korea, Iran, and our real enemies in check like he did.

They're all laughing their asses off and licking their chops now.

Taiwan may be next. Weakness like this may easilly start WW3.

I'll stop there. I would have rathered my 1st post here be about the theater I want to build.

I just hope when you get your theatre built you're not watching WW III unfold on it !!

 

[Jeepers]

People are being severely naive and single minded in blaming Trump on this. Weakness begets violence and conflict. It always has, but for all his faults, lack of strength and resolve was not one of them. No other president in our lifetime stepped up and kept the likes of China, North Korea, Iran, and our real enemies in check like he did.

Yes you are right; he achieved a whole lot. He is the President who will be remembered for uniting all Americans.

 

[lovinthehd]

Why were we in Afghanistan in the first place? The opium?